Rokhaya

For capable digital users, the barrier may not be access or literacy but social legitimacy. Digital tools enable women to create value, yet that value must be continually explained and defended. Designing for these users means shifting from training and onboarding toward tools that support credibility, boundary-setting, and the recognition of digital work as legitimate work.

How She Uses the Phone 

Rokhaya grew up in a household where phones were present early. Her family was among the few in her neighbourhood to have a basic mobile phone, brought by relatives living in Europe. At first, the phone was used mainly for calling family abroad, and she was taught how to operate it as a child. As she grew older, more phones entered the household. Her older siblings had their own devices, and one of them owned a smartphone. Rokhaya learned by watching them – scrolling, opening apps, taking photos – copying what she saw at home and among friends.

By the time she was in college, she had her own smartphone, a gift from her older brother. All her friends had phones, and using them felt natural. Messaging, browsing, sharing photos, and switching between apps became part of everyday life. She never thought of herself as ​“learning” how to use a phone; it was simply how people around her lived.

Marriage marked a shift. Rokhaya married young and had two children in quick succession. She continued to use her phone extensively, staying in touch with friends and family, but her patterns changed as she spent more time at home. Her husband largely handled buying and upgrading her phones, and she changed devices often, sometimes because a newer model was available, sometimes simply because she was bored with the old one. She mostly stuck to iPhones, which she preferred for their camera quality and ease of use.

Spending more time at home, Rokhaya began looking for ways to occupy herself and earn money. Around this time, her brother and sister-in-law moved to Italy. What started informally – asking her sister-in-law to send clothes or cosmetics – slowly became a business. Rokhaya would choose items over WhatsApp video calls, decide what might sell well in Dakar, and receive the packages to resell locally.

WhatsApp became the backbone of the business. Most of her customers were people she already knew including her friends, neighbours, acquaintances, people who trusted her taste. 

Payments were handled through Wave, which made transactions easier, especially when sending money to Italy to pay for stock. Over time, the business moved beyond pocket money. It began to generate steady income, some of which went toward household expenses.

More recently, Rokhaya started posting on TikTok to reach customers beyond her immediate circle. For her, this marked a shift from selling to people she knew to running a ​“proper” business. She paid attention to how photos were framed, what captions worked, and when to post. Orders from new customers began to come in.

At home, this was not always comfortable. Her husband sometimes expressed unease, feeling that providing for the household was his responsibility and that his wife running a visible business could reflect poorly on him. Rokhaya, however, emphasised that she worked from home and that her income was helping the family. ​“I’m not outside,” she says. ​“I’m here, with the children, and I’m also contributing.” The tension has not fully disappeared, but she continues to negotiate her space, keeping the business running.

Her Ecosystem of Learning and Facilitation 

Rokhaya does not need day-to-day help using her phone. Growing up surrounded by devices with siblings and friends meant she became comfortable navigating new apps and features on her own. When she starts using a new platform, she observes how others use it, tries things out, and adjusts quickly.

There are moments, however, when she seeks reassurance rather than instruction. Recently, she received a message suggesting someone was trying to access her WhatsApp account. Alarmed, she went to her husband, who connected her to a colleague at his office known for being ​“good with phones.” He checked her account, adjusted a few settings, and reassured her that nothing was wrong – it was not an attempted hack. Rokhaya did not ask to be shown how he did it. What mattered was that the issue was resolved.